U.S. shares higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 2.00%

Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Technology , Basic Materials and Financials sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 2.00%, while the S&P 500 index added 2.57%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 3.59%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE: CRM ), which rose 5.77% or 11.08 points to trade at 203.16 at the close. American Express Company (NYSE: AXP ) added 5.37% or 8.60 points to end at 168.65 and Nike Inc (NYSE: NKE ) was up 4.74% or 5.74 points to 126.95 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Chevron Corp (NYSE: CVX ), which lost 2.50% or 4.26 points to trade at 166.27 in late trade. Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE: VZ ) declined 0.32% or 0.17 points to end at 53.08 and McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD ) shed 0.14% or 0.32 points to 222.47.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Match Group Inc (NASDAQ: MTCH ) which rose 12.81% to 98.93, Tapestry Inc (NYSE: TPR ) which was up 10.64% to settle at 35.88 and Caesars Entertainment Corporation (NASDAQ: CZR ) which gained 10.46% to close at 77.59.

The worst performers were Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX ) which was down 5.88% to 79.35 in late trade, Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE: XOM ) which lost 5.68% to settle at 82.79 and Schlumberger NV (NYSE: SLB ) which was down 5.59% to 42.56 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Direct Digital Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: DRCT ) which rose 107.50% to 2.49, Revelation Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ: REVB ) which was up 83.82% to settle at 1.70 and Sentage Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: SNTG ) which gained 47.27% to close at 1.62.

The worst performers were Hycroft Mining Holding Corporation (NASDAQ: HYMC ) which was down 37.00% to 0.63 in late trade, Natera Inc (NASDAQ: NTRA ) which lost 32.79% to settle at 36.80 and Cyren Ltd (NASDAQ: CYRN ) which was down 31.89% to 7.09 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2428 to 817 and 124 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 3103 rose and 716 declined, while 227 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 7.63% to 32.45.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 2.31% or 47.15 to $1,996.15 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 11.07% or 13.69 to hit $110.01 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.24% or 0.27 to trade at $112.06 a barrel.

EUR/USD was unchanged 0.02% to 1.11, while USD/JPY rose 0.03% to 115.85.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 1.14% at 97.95.